Thursday, July 3, 2014

Lashon Harah: Informing his students or children of bad deeds of others

Chofetz Chaim(Hilchos
Issure lashon harah klall 4:10): Despite this, if you see bad character
traits in another person such as conceit, anger or other bad traits or he
neglects his Torah studies etc, it is correct to tell this to his son or his
students to warn them not to associate with that person in order that they not
learn from his deeds. That is because the basis for the Torah prohibitinglashon harah – even if it is true – is if it
is done to degrade the other and to rejoice in his debasement. However if the
speaker's intent is to protect others so that they don't learn from his bad
deed – it is clear that it is permitted and in fact it is a mitzva to disclose
this person's actions. However in these types of cases it would seem that it is
also a mitzva for the speaker to explain the reason why he is speaking negatively
about another person in order that the listeners don't make the mistake of
thinking that these types of comments are typically permitted. In addition that
he should not be viewed as a hypocrite since at other times he has said it is prohibited to speak badly of others –
even if it is the truth. (I will explain this further in Klall 9 halacha 5 that
it is a great mitzva for parents and teachers to give instructions against this
sin of lashon harah.) And yet now they see their parent or teacher speaking
lashon harah himself. Similarly this halacha is mentioned in Shulchan Aruch
(Y.D. 244:22 [and in the Taz 92:22]concerning cases which somone permits
something that is normally prohibited such as Erev Shabbos – that he needs to
explain why he is doing it.

August 8, 2017 10:30 pm yeshiva world Since the implementation of the Rav Kav transportation smart card in Israel, the Knesset’s Ombud...

Rav Zev Leff recommends my 3 books on Child & Domestic Abuse

Click on picture to hear excerpt from Jan. 2012 Kav L'Noar conference. "I want to first give hakoras hatov to Dr. Baruch Shulem who provided me with Daniel Eidensohn's books on child abuse and domestic abuse which offered me many many sources and it gave me many many ideas to be able to deal with the subject properly. And I thank them and I recommend those books to everyone who is interested in getting a good foundation what the issues are in this very important topic."